


Mothster Hunting

by trainwhistlesatnight



Category: Skulduggery Pleasant - Derek Landy
Genre: Bickering, Fluff, Gen, Mothman
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-16
Updated: 2019-04-16
Packaged: 2020-01-15 05:32:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 813
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18492385
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/trainwhistlesatnight/pseuds/trainwhistlesatnight
Summary: Donegan and Gracious plan and set off to hunt for the well talked about but rarely seen; Mothman!





	Mothster Hunting

**Author's Note:**

> Hmu at train-whistles-at-night on Tumblr!

“So,” Gracious says, climbing up a ladder, “we get a really big lamp-”

“No,” Donegan immediately said. Gracious visibly deflated. 

“Why not?” He asks, resuming climbing up.

“Because they won’t come to it, plus they might burn up.” Donegan shrugged. Gracious stopped and frowned.

“Burn up? Donegan, how big do you think Mothman is? ‘Cause he’s not the actual size of a moth you know.” Gracious shook his head. Donegan shifted his weight on his feet.

“And how do you know that?” He asked. “We haven’t found him yet, you know.” Gracious was quiet for a moment.

“.. Well either way we still haven’t found him and I’m the only one coming up with ideas!” He waved one hand around. Donegan rolled his eyes.

“You haven’t given me a chance to come up with anything-”

“Because you shot my idea down.”

“Because it was a dumb idea.”

“You’re a dumb idea.”

“Anyway,” Donegan looked around, “what about a bowl of nectar. Or something in that general area, something moths like." Gracious fiddled with the wires of the lamp above them. 

"That could work," he began, grunting when he pulled a particularly stuck piece out of place for the sake of whatever project he was working on. "What's some other things moths like?" Donegan shrugged, pulling out his phone.

"Dunno, but I can look it up." So he did so. A few seconds later, he listed things off, counting them on his fingers as he did so. "Liquids from sap flowers and or trees, rotting fruits, bird dropping, and animal dung. So what do we do with that?"

Gracious slid down the ladder with a smoothness no one should really be able to have. "Start a compost?" He asked when he landed. Donegan considered the idea.

"It's not out of the question. What if Mothman doesn't like any of those things?" Gracious grinned, leaning close.

"My lamp idea is still available~"

".. We'll bring a small one, that works on batteries." Gracious let out a whoop of victory, running off to try and find a small lamp that worked on batteries in the workshop. Donegan smiled, shaking his head and following after him

-

They hid out low in the brush where they had heard of sightings of Mothman. Gracious shifted, "So how do we know Mothman is a man?" Donegan made a face, tilting his head for a moment.

"I guess we don't, but Mothwoman and Mothindividual is too long." Gracious shook his head.

"I guess so, but you never know, maybe that's why we've never seen them.."

"Maybe, but alliteration works nicely for most things, and Mothman probably doesn't care. They're a moth."

"Moth person, and besides, I wouldn't come out if people kept personally calling me the wrong pronouns. What if life was like that, then our names would just be Humanman 1 and Humanman 2. And we wouldn't even be one and two, we'd be like, some billionth numbe-" Donegan smacked Gracious in the chest, making him let out an 'oof' sound in surprise, but otherwise quieting him.

"I think I see something, Gracious, quiet..!" He whispered. Gracious perked up quickly, peaking over the bush.

"Get the camera ready, get the camera ready-!" He whispered back, patting Donegan's shoulder quickly. He fumbled doing so, but had the camera out and ready seconds later.

The moth person turned, curious from the noise, but when they caught sight of the two men, it froze. Donegan ever so slowly raised the camera just above the bush, attempting to take a picture. The flash went off, and the moth clearly startled and flew off. Donegan attempted to take more pictures, but upon reviewing them, they would all be unclear.

After some cursing and grumbling, they packed up their stuff and set off to go back to the shop.

Most of the walk was in silence, until Gracious mumbled something.

"What was that?" Donegan asked. Gracious shrugged.

"I'm just saying this is because you wouldn't listen to me about their pronouns." Donegan groaned, then laughed.

"Shut up, Gracious."

"I'm just saying! We offended them!"

"I still don't think moths understand gender. They're moths." Gracious gave Donegan a look.

"But they're part moth, part  _ person _ . Donegan, keep up, good lord. They're gonna think you're more insensitive than they already think you are."

"I'll make sure to apologize if we ever see them again, then." Gracious nodded with satisfaction.

"Good."

Then continued to walk in silence for about another 10 minutes, before Gracious started snickering. "Hey," he said, "hey Donegan." Donegan glanced over at him.

"What is it, Gracious?" He asked, raising a brow and letting a tiny smile come onto his face.

"Where do moths come from?"

"I dunno, where do moths come from?"

"The  _ Moth _ erland," he answered, immediately cracking up at his joke. Donegan shook his head, laughing too.

It wasn't such a bad hunt after all.


End file.
